In Protective Custody. Beth Cornelison

arched a delicate eyebrow. “No. I’m staying until I’m sure the baby will be all right.”

      “That could be a while. Don’t you have a job waiting for you in the morning? A boyfriend who’ll be worried about you?”

      “I’ve earned the time off. All I have to do is call the day care director and tell her I need some personal days.”

      She ignored his question about the boyfriend, he noticed. Interesting.

      “Just the same—” Again he reached for the baby. “I can’t ask you to—”

      She turned her back, refusing to give Elmer up. Sighing, Max raised his hand to rake his hair. The motion sent a sharp ache through his shoulder. He winced, moaned.

      “See! You’re in no condition to take care of him.”

      The self-satisfied look on the woman’s face should have annoyed him. Instead, he found the whole impossible situation so absurdly impossible, so unbelievably ironic that he huffed a short laugh.

      The woman stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. Maybe he had. He was actually thinking of letting her stay, despite everything wrong with that idea.

      He slapped the steering wheel in frustration, and the loud noise woke Elmer. The baby wrinkled his face and sent up a wail to wake the dead.

      “Now look what you did!” she fussed.

      Elmer’s complaints grew steadily in volume and verve. Max really hadn’t the foggiest idea what to do with the screaming baby or how to calm him.

      He pinched the bridge of his nose then regarded her with a steady gaze. “You understand, don’t you, that if you stay, you’ll be putting yourself in danger? Those guys that shot up my house won’t just give up and go home. They’re looking for us even as we speak.”

      She drew her shoulders back, seemed to consider his warning for a moment, then gave a quick nod.

      “I’ll do my best to keep you and the baby safe,” he assured her. “But in the end, the baby is my first priority. Got that, lady?”

      “Laura.”

      “What?”

      “My name is Laura…Dalton. I figure if I’m staying, you can’t keep calling me lady. And for the record, the baby’s welfare is my main concern, too. It’s the only thing keeping me here.”

      Her bright turquoise eyes cut through him like lasers. Her scrutiny left him feeling strangely vulnerable, as if she could see through his pretenses, saw through to his soul, knew his past failures and his deepest secrets.

      Yet he also sensed that with Laura, and with Emily’s son, he’d been offered a gift. A chance at redemption.

      “All right, Laura, you can stay. For now.” He reached for Elmer once more, and despite her grunted protest, he took his nephew from her. Throwing the baby’s blanket over his shoulder to hide his bloody wound, he opened the driver’s door. “The first thing we need to do is buy supplies for the baby. And I need to get a change of clothes. I suggest you do the same.”

      Max tucked the Glock in his waistband, covered it with his shirt. “Don’t wander off. If you’re staying with me, then you’re staying with me. Where I can protect you. I’m not letting you or Elmer out of my sight. Got it?”

      Without waiting for her to answer, he climbed from the car. They may have escaped the Rialtos this time, but he knew Emily’s in-laws were hunting them even now. He had to be ready for trouble.

      When they returned to the car, Laura changed Elmer’s diaper on the backseat while Max loaded their purchases into the trunk. He paused several times to scan the parking lot, a wary itch tickling his neck. He felt exposed, jumpy. The Rialtos’ henchmen could be anywhere.

      They needed distance. The farther and faster they traveled that night the better.

      He paced to the backseat where Laura had fixed Elmer a bottle of ready-made formula. “We gotta get moving. Can you feed him while I drive?”

      Laura glanced up then nervously scanned the parking lot. “Did you see those men?”

      “No, but the point is to stay well ahead of them. We’re too vulnerable sitting here.”

      Laura’s eyes darkened, and she nodded tightly. “Let’s go then. I’ll ride back here so I can hold his bottle.”

      As they pulled back onto the Mississippi highway, Max removed the Glock from his jeans and set it on the front seat next to him. “I think we’ll head to North Carolina tomorrow.”

      “Why North Carolina?”

      “I have a friend with a hunting cabin up in the Smokies. We usually make a trip sometime in the fall, but his wife just had surgery, so we’d canceled our trip this year. His cabin would be a good place to lay low for a while. For tonight, we’ll find a motel somewhere off the beaten path. Get some rest. Regroup.”

      Laura didn’t answer.

      Max glanced in the rearview mirror, checking that no suspicious cars had followed them out of the parking lot, but his gaze drifted to the woman in the backseat. Her hair shone like spun gold as the sinking sun cast a warm glow across the horizon. With effort, he pushed down the desire to feel her golden hair against his skin and trained his thoughts on planning his next move.

      “Elmer’s going to need to be fed every couple of hours throughout the night,” she said evenly. “It’d be easier if I keep him in my room at the motel.”

      Max snapped out of his pensive thoughts when her words sank in. “Like hell! That baby—”

      “Stop cussing! The baby doesn’t need to hear that kind of language.”

      “Wha—? He doesn’t understand what I’m saying!”

      “Yet. It’s never too soon to break a bad habit.”

      “All right, all right, fine.” He raised a hand in concession. “I’ll watch my language, but there’s no way you’re taking the baby out of my sight.”

      She grunted. “He’ll keep you awake all night. You don’t know how to feed him or…”

      “Maybe so. But rule number one is, the baby stays with me. If you want to help with him, you’ll have to bunk in with us.” Cocking an eyebrow, he sent her a narrow-eyed look in the rearview mirror, daring her to challenge him on the point.

      Her shoulders drooped, and her face fell. “Fine.”

      Rather than feeling he’d won this battle of wills, Max shifted in his seat, uneasy with the arrangement he’d cornered her into. The idea of sharing a motel room with the beautiful blonde made his blood thick, hot.

      They were well into rural Mississippi before he stopped at a tiny gas station to refuel the car. Turning toward the silent backseat, he discovered Laura had fallen asleep sometime after Elmer had. He let her sleep as he paid for and pumped the gas.

      Through the back window, he watched Laura sleep, her cheek pillowed on her hands. Her smooth skin rivaled Elmer’s, looked as silky-soft as the baby’s, and he longed to stroke her face, brush his thumb along her lips. His groin tightened, and he shook off the sensual thoughts. He needed to stay focused.